The Chapel's Full
by poetanddidntknowit34
Summary: *SPOILER ALERT* This imagine contains major spoilers from Season 6 Episode 14. If you haven't watched it yet, stop reading. **** Requested by anonymous: Can you do an imagine where the reader comforts Daryl after what happens to Denise?
1. Chapter 1

"Hey." You say as you hear the door of your bedroom open. You were stretched out on the bed and didn't want to look up from the book you were absorbed in as you quickly tried to find a stopping point. "How was your run with Denise?" Daryl didn't say anything as he sat down slowly on the edge of the bed next to you, staring out the window and placing his hand on your outstretched knees. You look up from your book. Something was wrong. "Babe?" You toss the book aside and reach out to touch his arm.

Without warning, he falls sideways, landing in your lap with a choked sob. Startled, you freeze. Something was very wrong. You'd only seen Daryl cry twice: after coming home from chasing his brother and Michonne down, and in the parking lot of Grady Memorial Hospital.

There were three possibilities that immediately came to mind to explain why your husband was sobbing into your jeans:

1\. Rosita had died.

2\. Denise had died.

3\. Daryl had been bitten

The last possibility floods your veins with lead and ice. You take a deep breath, and slowly begin to comb your fingers through Daryl's dirty, sweaty hair. You tried to push your panic away until Daryl had calmed down enough to speak, but it was getting harder. Finally, he calmed down and began to relax a bit. "Daryl?" You say quietly, wiping tears and dirt from his face as he looks up into your eyes. The sorrow in those blue eyes seeped in behind yours, and suddenly, you were crying, too. "Daryl, please." You whisper. "Were you bit?"

He shook his head 'no', before laying his head back down into your lap and looking out the window. It was quiet for a while, and the anguish and anticipation in the room bit at your skin like little mosquitos. After a few minutes, Daryl spoke. His voice sounded far away. "Denise was trynna prove that she had it in her to be outside the walls. She took down a walker by herself, and Rosita was pissed. Denise just… started yellin at as. Then, she got shot. Mid-sentence." He went quiet again.

"Who shot her?" It was your turn to cry now. Denise had been such a good friend to her.

"Name's Dwight. He stole my bike and bow when I was out leadin them walkers away from here." He closed his eyes. "Y/N, he shot her with my bow." You could see the anger of that fact etch briefly across his face, before it was replaced with sadness once more. "I just… I just told Tara."

"C'mere." You say, tugging his shoulders until he was lying next to you on the bed. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and pull him close to your chest.

"She was my friend." He whispered. "Everyone dies, 'specially in this world. I know that. But I can't keep pretending like it don't matter." He paused. "A lot of my friends are dead, Y/N." He was speaking more freely than you'd ever heard before, and you knew he was exhausted from all the grief and death.

"You never did have to pretend like none of those deaths mattered." I was combing through his hair again. "Sophia, Dale, T-Dog, Lori, Beth, Merle, Tyrese, Hershel. Denise. All of the people we've lost meant something to you, and it's OK to admit it." You planted a kiss on his forehead. "You don't have to be strong all of the time. That's what you have me for. And Rick. And Carol. And Glenn and Maggie. Hell, even Carl."

Daryl laughed a bit, the sound muffled by your tshirt. "I ain't telling Carl shit."

"I'm just sayin. Kid worships the ground you walk on. He'd listen to you if you needed him to." You both fell silent for a long while, Daryl running his fingers up and down your back absently, you still running yours through his hair.

"I'm scared." He whispered after a while, the confession barely audible.

"I'm scared, too."

"I'm worried about this war with Negan. I'm scared that someone will have to stand in our living room and deliver the same speech to me that I just gave Tara." Silence.

You were crying again. "I worry about getting that speech, too. I have nightmares where Rick comes home alone from a run, and I just know. I—" You swallow the lump in your throat and whisper, "I just know."

"That ain't gonna happen." He started placing little kisses on the inside of your bicep. "I'll never leave ya."

You stay like that until the sun starts to go down outside. Then Daryl sat up. "Feeling better?" You ask.

"Yeah." He wandered into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He paused before closing the door. "Y/N?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

You smile. "I love you, too."

* * *

Someone had suggested doing a small service in the church before burying Denise. The chapel was full of flowers and sage, and everyone was silent throughout the service, burning holes into air with unspoken grief from everyone they'd ever lost.

Daryl dug the grave. He'd insisted. Tara wanted to help fill it in, so you sat a little ways away, watching as they silently shoveled mounds of dirt onto the good doctor.

Carol came to sit next to you after a while, passing you a cigarette as she lit one of her own.

You decline. "Daryl and I don't like it when the other one smokes. We agreed to quit together." You continued to watch him shovel dirt across the street. "Plus, I think I might be pregnant, so it wouldn't be good for the baby."

Carol sighed out a large puff of cigarette smoke. "Does Daryl know?"

You shake your head. "I was going to tell him yesterday, but the Denise thing happened, and I'm going to wait a while. That way we can both enjoy it."

"I envy you." Carol stated after a beat.

You snort incredulously. "Why's that?"

"You're generally happy. Not today, obviously, no one is." She nodded in the direction of the shoveling. "But in life. You're happy." She stamped out her cigarette.

"You're not?"

"No." It was quiet for a bit before Carol stood up. "I don't think I can do this anymore." And she walked away.

* * *

 **I stole the title of this fic from Nicole Dollanganger's song "Chapel". A.K.A. the song they played at the end of the episode A.K.A. the song that haunts me now forever. You can listen to the song here: watch?v=ilocvPFpv_E**

 **I do requests! Just send me an ask on Tumblr (username: poetanddidntknowit34) or PM me with a request!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I had several requests for a part 2, so here it is:**

 **The Chapel's Full Pt. 2**

"Hey." Daryl grunted, tossing his crossbow onto a pile of dirty laundry in the corner of the room.

"How was watch?" You mumble, barely awake. Daryl had had the midnight to 6AM shift, and you had a shift at noon. So for the next six hours, you had the house and the morning all to yourselves.

"Quiet." Daryl flopped down on the bed next to you, not even bothering to get under the covers. "Hungry?" He pulled you close and started kissing your bare shoulder.

"Mmm. A little." You say. You didn't say that you were starving since you'd spent most of his shift with morning sickness, and now that it had passed, you were dying for some toast and eggs.

You lay like that for a while, dozing lightly in the morning sunlight. Then Daryl stirred again and said, "I could make pancakes? I stopped at the pantry on the way here and found a box of mix."

"You mean you want me to make pancakes?" You roll over and smile up at him. "Cause we both know that you're a shit cook."

"I said I'd make them. I didn't say they'd be good." You both laugh. These were the moments you craved. Quiet, safe, joyful. Just you and Daryl tucked away from the rest of the hell that was the world, peacefully enjoying each other's company. You hadn't realized that you had been staring at his face without saying a word for the last few minutes until he said, "Whatcha thinkin?"

This was the time. It was now or never. You open your mouth to tell him the news, when Rick's voice outside the house interrupted you. "I'll get the Dixons! Just go to the spot now and assess the situation." There was banging on the front door. "Kill anything that tries to get in!"

Daryl was up out of bed quickly, grabbing his bow as he opened the bedroom door. "Get dressed. I'll answer the door."

You wiggle out from under the covers as fast as you can and pull on yesterday's jeans and one of Daryl's long-sleeved shirts. It was supposed to be laundry day, so you'd run out of options. You thunked down the stairs quickly in your boots, landing in the front hallway with a confused look on your face. Daryl was gone. "What's happening, Rick?"

"I need you to take Abraham's watch shift right now until noon. One of the panels in the wall is loose and about to come down, and I need his help putting it back up. Daryl's coming with to fight any walkers that try to get in."

You snapped into action, grabbing your rifle off the sofa. "I'm on it. Which tower is he posted at?"

"Front gate."

You both run outside and before you part ways to go where you're needed, you say, "Keep everyone safe, Rick." But he knew who you meant.

* * *

The morning was cool; fall was underway and before you knew it, there would be snow on the ground. Watch was generally quiet. You could see the sagging panel from your post, so you completed each scan of the horizon with a check-in on the group members that were working on the wall. There weren't many walkers around, so there wasn't too much excitement going on. But it was still dangerous.

It was right around 10AM when Carol started climbing the ladder to get up to your post. "Morning." Carol said, brandishing muffins in a nice-looking basket. "Thought you might be hungry up here."

"Thanks." You smile and take one. Just as you were about to take a bite, though, the smell got to you and your morning sickness was suddenly back. You threw up over the wall and onto a walker. "Gross." You mutter.

"Morning sickness?" Carol set the basket down.

"Yeah." You pinch the bridge of your nose and take a drink from the water bottle that Carol offered you. "It's miserable."

Carol nodded. "You told Daryl yet?"

You shake your head. "I was just about to this morning, but then Rick came and rounded us up for these emergency jobs." You shrug. "I will, though. Today."

Carol nodded and watched as you took a bite of the muffin, savoring the taste and the fact that your stomach was actually going to let you finish it. "I'm thinking about leaving Alexandria. Permanently." Carol said bluntly after you'd finished one muffin and started on a second.

"What?!" You almost yelled, taking your eyes off of the walker that you were watching make its way down the road towards the community. "Why would you do that?"

Carol shrugged. "I can't take it anymore. All of the killing and fighting. We started a war that I don't think I can fight in."

"No one's asking you to fight the war, Carol." You went back to munching your muffin and watching for threats. "We're asking you to be here in case we need you. For anything. In case someone needs a bandage, or if someone needs to cry and talk, or if someone needs to talk out a hard decision. You're a member of this community, and leaving would not only put us at a disadvantage in all the areas that you're good at, but it would also be selfish. You'd put all of us in danger that went out looking for you."

It was silent. "If I left, I wouldn't want anyone to come lookin."

"And you've lost your damn mind if you think no one would." You were angry now. "Daryl and Rick would be the first ones tearing out of this gate, hot on your trail. Imagine what would happen to the rest of us if they died." More silence. "Why are you even telling me this? If you wouldn't want anyone looking for you, you wouldn't tell someone ahead of time."

"I'm just thinking out loud." Carol sounded far away.

That's when you realized it. She wasn't talking out loud, she was wanting reassurance of what the right decision was. "Carol, you're not a bad person. We've all got blood on our hands. I've killed four people. I know this for a fact. Sometimes, it keeps me up at night. I think Daryl's killed ten or eleven. Maybe more. Sometimes, that keeps me up at night." You finish your muffin before speaking again. "I think about it. The answer isn't trying to forget what you've done, it's trying to remember what you've become. I've become smarter about how to survive. Having to kill those four people made me smarter about the situations that I get myself in, trying my hardest to not be in a situation in which I'd have to kill someone. It's also made me respect life more. Sometimes, I have to kill. In order to protect my community and my husband and now, my baby. I know how precious life is, and how easy it is to end. That means I try to avoid killing, but I also do it when necessary."

"I don't think I can anymore." Carol's voice was still quiet and far away.

"So take time off. Trade places with Carl and watch Judy every day. Enjoy a role other than soldier. It's possible."

Carol nodded, and it was quiet again for a while. "How do you deal with your guilt?"

"I look at my husband, and I remind myself what I'm protecting. Then I let myself cry and feel guilty. Then I move on. Life is like driving," You say, remembering a metaphor your father once told you, "If you spend the whole time staring in the rearview mirror, you'll crash. You gotta just glance every once in a while to remind yourself where you came from and the lessons you learned, and then you focus forward again." You stared hard at a spot in the distance, wondering if it was a walker or a person approaching. "OK?"

"OK." Carol gave you a hug from behind. "Thank you."

"Not a problem." You smile. "You can always come and talk to me."

Carol looks down at the ladder where Daryl is now climbing up toward the platform, a plate of something in his hand. "I better leave you two alone. I know you want to talk him in private."

"Hi Carol." Daryl said when he reached the platform of the guard tower.

"Hi." Carol started to climb down. "I was just leaving. Have a good day." She waved up to them from the ground.

"Got the panel fixed. Abraham's going to switch with you at noon and take your shift." Daryl sat down on the wall and offered the plate of greasy, hot bacon to you. "I made bacon. Figured you might be hungry." The smell was too much, and you lost your two and a half muffins over the wall and onto the same walker, who was still standing there unfazed by what was happening to him. "Umm." Daryl looked over the side of the wall. "Did you just upchuck on a walker?"

You nod. "Sorry. The smell of the bacon… it's a little strong."

"You OK?" Daryl put the plate down on the opposite side of the platform, as far downwind from you as he could manage.

You nod, gulping down some more water to try to settle your stomach back down. This is the worst bought of morning sickness that you've had to date. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine." He got up close to your face and tried to examine you.

"I'm fine, Daryl, really." You step back to give yourself some space, then did another scan of the horizon. "I was going to tell you last week, but then your run went bad with Denise. So, I was going to tell you this morning, but then the wall thing happened and Rick interrupted me." You took a deep breath, looked into his eyes, smiled, and said, "You're gonna be a dad."

Daryl looked stunned for a moment, and he didn't move for a while. "Are you serious?"

"No," You roll your eyes. "I'm just puking on walkers as an elaborate prank."

"OK, ha ha." Daryl smiled. "I just…" He did a scan of the horizon now, too, trying to collect his thoughts. "I just can't believe it."

"I couldn't either. That's why it took so long for me to be sure." You lace your fingers into his. "I think I'm almost to the end of the third month."

"Huh." Was all Daryl said, and then it was quiet again.

"You OK?"

"Just worried is all. Denise is gone, and we have no medical care."

"We have that OB at the hilltop that's helping Maggie out."

"Dwight's still out there, and he hates me. If he finds out—"

"He won't. There's no way he could."

"The Saviors—"

"Are not a concern at this present moment. We'll deal with them when we deal with them." You squeeze his hand tighter. "Just relax. We're going to be fine. This is a good thing."

Daryl nodded. "Yeah. It is."


End file.
